News Round-up: Lachlan Morton gets underway at the Tour Divide as the Vuelta a España continues

Alongside the Tour Divide, we bring you the racing results from the Vuelta a España and Tour de l’Avenir Femmes

16:55, Wednesday 30th August 2023

George Poole

Junior Writer

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Lachlan Morton riding the Colorado Trail in one of his prior exploits last year

| Lachlan Morton begins his attempt at the Great Divide but is faced with forest fires

Leaving the picturesque town of Banff, Alberta in the Canadian Rockies, Lachlan Morton has at least 2,696 miles ahead of him before he reaches Antelope Wells, New Mexico. Along the way, he will no doubt encounter wild animals, challenging terrain and high altitude, but before any of the more traditional difficulties posed by the Great Divide route, the Australian has already been met by a series of forest fires just hours into his latest ultra-endurance adventure.

Aboard his decked-out Cannondale Scalpel HT Hi-MOD Ultimate, Morton set out from Banff yesterday morning and had planned on a fairly straightforward first day in the saddle to Fernie, British Columbia. Unfortunately for the EF Education-EasyPost adventurer, lightning storms in the area were the cause of most of the 47 new forest fires that were reported on Monday. As reported by CBC, this brings the total in the British Columbia province to above 400.

Undeterred by the forest fires, Morton worked his way around numerous road closures along the route and eventually arrived in Fernie at 19:30 local time on Tuesday evening. As GCN ahead of his departure, Morton is intent on not falling into deep swathes of sleep deprivation during this attempt - in a purposeful change from his earlier conquests - but his plan was to awake at 2am on Wednesday morning to press forth.

Ahead of leaving Banff, Morton had spoken of his excitement at his attempt to beat the late Mike Hall’s Great Divide record.

"I'm excited. Really excited," beamed Morton. "It's obviously pretty daunting and I'm pretty nervous, but I think if you weren't it would be silly. Keen to get cracking on the road here."

See more: If you would like to donate to Adventure for All on behalf of Morton's effort, click here.

At the time of writing on Wednesday afternoon in the UK, Morton is some six hours into his second day of riding and has clocked up 235 miles since leaving Banff. As he approaches 10% of the overall distance he will have to cover, Morton is travelling south to Kalispell and finds himself ahead of Hall’s fastest-known time on the route.

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| Kaden Groves becomes the first Aussie to win back-to-back Grand Tour stages at the Vuelta a España

By Daniel Benson

Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) claimed his second victory in two days with a win on stage 5 of the Vuelta a España. The Australian edged out surprise package Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) in a hotly contested bunch sprint in Burriana with Dries Van Gestel (TotalEnergies) taking third. Groves, who was searching for his fourth Grand Tour stage, benefited from a perfect lead-out from his Alpecin-Deceuninck train with several of his teammates still present as the peloton entered the final 1,000m.

In the race for the overall standings Remco Evenepoel (Soudal QuickStep) extended his advantage to 11 seconds over Enric Mas (Movistar Team) after the Belgian picked up six bonus seconds at an intermediate sprint with 11km to go. Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ) remains in third overall.

“It’s a fantastic feeling. Second stage of this Vuelta and two in a row, it’s a great feeling, especially to do it in the green jersey," Groves said at the line.

"Again, it was another hectic final today. Similar to yesterday with a lot of roundabouts, but not much climbing at all really. But there was the factor of wind as well which made it quite nervous, but my team was fantastic again. We had a crash, we lost two guys actually in a roundabout about two and a half to go. But luckily my lead-out men were still there and we could get organised for the final," the winner added.

| Fem van Empel sprints to stage 3 victory at the Tour de l’Avenir Femmes

Stage 3 of the inaugural Tour de l’Avenir Femmes was always going to be a tough test and so it proved, with Fem van Empel of the Netherlands taking the day’s honours ahead of the rest of her rivals for the overall title.

Fem van Empel won the World Cyclocross Championships for the Netherlands at the start of the year

After a largely flat day, the stage really came to life in the final 20km when the riders were challenged by the category 2 Côte du Thoissia, which at 5.2% for 4.6km was always going to light up the day’s proceedings. The riders crested its peak with little over 10km to ride, and Van Empel approached the finish in Val-d’Épy as part of a 20-woman group.

On the run to the line, Neve Bradbury (Australia), Petra Stiasny (Switzerland) and Olivia Onesti (France) were distanced, as Vam Empel sprinted to victory ahead of Dominika Włodarczyk (Poland) and Gaia Masetti (Italy) - who finished second and third, respectively.

Antonia Niedermaier (Germany) was part of the front group to retain her lead of 14 seconds over second-placed, Anna Shackley (Great Britain). Van Empel, for her part, moves up five places to 13th and sits 1:32 down on the German’s race lead.

The Dutchwoman was wearing the QoM polka dot jersey on behalf of Niedermaier, but will adorn it by right tomorrow after the stage 3 victory.

| Carlos Verona to sign for Lidl-Trek after Ineos Grenadiers let-down

By Daniel Benson

Carlos Verona can finally breathe a sigh of relief having agreed to join Lidl-Trek in 2024.

The Spanish climber found himself back on the transfer market towards the end of the Tour de France after Ineos Grenadiers decided to pull out of an agreement to sign the current Movistar rider.

According to sources close to the current situation, and reports in the Spanish media, Verona and Lidl-Trek have agreed terms for next year - although the team has yet to make a public announcement.

GCN approached Ineos for comment on the situation around Foss and Verona last week. The team declined to comment, with a representative stating: “We won't comment on contract negotiations until we're ready to comment on them.”

Verona becomes the eighth signing for Lidl-Trek during what's been a busy transfer market for the American squad. Tao Geoghegan Hart has joined on a three-year deal from Ineos Grenadiers, while Patrick Konrad, Jonathan Milan, Andrea Bagioli, Simone Consonni, Ryan Gibbons, and Fabio Felline have all been announced by the team.

| Race leaders make history on the Vuelta a España’s opening weekend

There was no shortage of controversy over the Vuelta’s opening weekend, with curtailed stages, nasty crashes and even some racing in the dark. But alongside protests and upset, the first three stages delivered stats and records in abundance for our resident guru, Cillian Kelly, to sum up in a very special Stat Attack.

Remco Evenepoel can take inspiration from Freddy Maertens’ Vuelta a España win in 1977

In taking the red jersey after stages 1 and 2, respectively, Lorenzo Milesi (dsm-firmenich) and Andrea Piccolo (EF Education-EasyPost) marked the first time that we have had consecutive Italians lead the Vuelta. Of course, there have been editions where multiple Italian riders have pulled on the leader’s jersey - Filippo Pozzato, Daniele Bennati and Alessandro Ballan in 2008, and Fabio Baldato and Biagio Conte in 1996 - but never had they done so back-to-back.

Additionally, for the first time ever, Danish riders have won stages at all three Grand Tours in a single season, with Andreas Kron’s success at the Vuelta preceded by Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Kasper Asgreen (Soudal Quick-Step) at the Tour de France, and Magnus Cort (EF Education-EasyPost) and Pedersen again at the Giro d’Italia in May.

For many more interesting tidbits from the Vuelta’s opening weekend, check out our latest GCN Stat Attack below!

Read more: GCN

| Ridley speaks out as bitter fallout with Lotton Dstny continues

by Matilda Price

Belgian bike manufacturer Ridley has accused Lotto Dstny of “disloyalty” and “reputational damage” after it was revealed that the UCI ProTeam would be ending their 12-year partnership with the brand to seek new bike suppliers for 2024. Lotto Dstny were set to ride Ridley bikes until the end of 2025, but reports in Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws - which were later confirmed by Lotto CEO Stéphane Heulot - stated that the team would break that partnership early.

A day after the news emerged on Tuesday, Ridley responded in a statement given to HLN by CEO Jochim Aerts, describing the situation as a “cold shower”.

“Ridley feels compelled to respond to ongoing press leaks from new management at Lotto Dstny,” the statement read. “A current agreement is unilaterally terminated and 12 years of intensive and positive cooperation are consigned to the rubbish bin.”

Aerts also suggested that Ridley would be seeking financial compensation or settlement from Lotto Dstny.

Lotto Dstny have not commented on the current situation, other than a short statement on Tuesday to confirm they would be moving on from Ridley in 2024, but that they would not be offering any more insight into the situation in light of the recent death of their development rider, Tijl De Decker.

According to reports, Orbea will be the team's new bike supplier from 2024.

From an octopus’ garden in the shade, it is time to bid adieu. Until the next time.